LONDON (Reuters) -British clothing retailer Next raised its annual profit outlook for the third time in five months after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter sales, benefiting from warm weather and disruption at cyberattack-hit rival Marks & Spencer.
The group, often considered a useful gauge of how British consumers are faring, said on Thursday full-price sales in its second quarter to July 26 rose 10.5% versus last year – ahead of guidance of 6.5% and versus growth of 11.4% in the first quarter.
Next said the UK outperformance was largely due to better than expected weather and trading disruption at a major competitor, which it did not name.
However, Next’s second quarter overlapped a period where M&S stopped taking online clothing orders following a cyberattack which has cost it 300 million pounds ($398 million) in lost profit.
Industry data has shown Next to be a beneficiary of M&S’ woes, along with Zara and H&M.
Next said international sales also grew faster than expected, mainly because its marketing proved more effective than anticipated.
The group raised its guidance for second half full price sales growth to 4.5% from 3.5% previously.
Next is now forecasting a year to January 2026 pretax profit of 1.105 billion pounds, up from previous guidance of 1.080 billion pounds.
It made 1.011 billion pounds in 2024/25, topping 1 billion pounds for the first time.
($1 = 0.7539 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey, editing by Sarah Young and Paul Sandle)
